Training is coming along, well, ok I guess. It started out GREAT, but I’ve hit a few pitfalls along the way.
First of all, hills. Or rather, a lack thereof. Two to three days per week my training plan calls for a time goal instead of a distance goal. It will say something like “90 minutes fast” or “120 minutes easy.” So, since there’s a great park that has a loop around it, and it’s about a 15 to 20 minute ride to and from, I ride laps around the park until it’s time to head home. And if need be, I’ll ride laps around the block when I get home in order to hit my time goal. The problem is, there aren’t much in the way of hills on that route. That’s ok though I guess, since the point of those rides is either recovery or working on increasing my speed. I think I can live with that.
The other two or three days I have a distance goal. For that, I can plan out a route of a specific length. For my FIRST long ride in my training plan, I came across a long, steep hill. The longest, steepest hill I’ve ever ridden up. Problem is, that route had me on a highway that is not conducive to riding, for a very long time. SEVERAL very long segments on that highway, actually. So I’ve only ridden that route once before retiring it. The following week, I used Strava to map out another route. That route took me over the Tappan Zee bridge and into Westchester, where it headed me north along a really great multi-use trail. I actually really ENJOY that route, so as my long rides got longer, I’ve been extending that route further and further north. The problem is, there is exactly ONE challenging hill on those routes. But I DO like that route, so I’ve been repeating it for all of my Sunday long rides. I plan to use that route ONE more time, for my 100-mile ride this coming Sunday. After that, I’m going to stay on this side of the Hudson and look for some more challenging routes for my Sunday long rides. I’ll probably revamp the long rides I take on other days as well, for the same reason.
Another pitfall I came across resulted in not riding for two weeks. I’ve been riding now for somewhere around 16 years, and not ONCE have I ever had any saddle sores. Not until I got to a particular weekend in my training plan that called for stringing together several long rides. Specifically, an 80-miler on Friday, a 60-miler on Saturday, and another 80-miler on Sunday. This created two challenges - one that I expected, and one that I didn’t. I was expecting the cumulative fatigue from stringing together those rides, along with having to get up crazy early on both Friday and Saturday so I could squeeze them in before work. What I WASN’T expecting was saddle sores. So after that weekend I took a few days off so the sores could heal. Before I got back on the bike, I caught a cold, so I took some MORE rest. Then, for good measure, I just got plain lazy and had trouble restarting my plan. I’m back on track now though, and I’ve started using Chamois Butt’r where I got the sores, and that seems to be making a big difference. Prior to that, I’ve never bothered with chamois cream of any kind.
As the trip gets closer, I’m working on my final plans. My flight is already booked, but I need to make a plan for getting my bike ready and shipping it to California. My bike shop already has some parts set aside for me (new tires, new chain, brake pads, etc.) and I plan to have them overhaul the bike (per Crossroads Cycling’s recommendation) at the beginning of April. Hopefully that process won’t take long and I won’t miss too much training time. (They’ve been really good lately of getting any work done turned around VERY quickly, but I don’t think the overhaul is something they can turn around same day. We’ll see very soon.)
To say I’m looking forward to this trip would be the understatement of the year!
